The present invention relates generally to inventory tracking and in particular to tracking inventory based on interaction of a device with a remote system or entity.
The economic concept of supply and demand is easily understood but is often difficult to practically implement. As supply chains become more extensive, the practice is further strained. Inventory systems have been developed that enable monitoring of inventory levels to ensure products are available for purchase. An appropriately configured inventory system can reduce the amount of capital a business has tied up in inventory and ensure that sufficient inventory is on hand for order fulfillment. Typical inventory management systems involve tracking products as they ordered into inventory are sold out of inventory.
A particularly difficult circumstance arises when inventory is not tracked by a retailer. The retailer can discover inventories are low and request immediate shipment from a supplier. The inability of a supplier to supply either the requested volume or requested delivery date can be damaging to the relationship between the supplier and the retailer. The problem is most acute when the retailer is not a traditional customer, such as a retailer that sells a product as part of another product sale. An example of a non-traditional retailer is an installer of vehicle tracking devices. Vehicle tracking devices are often installed in rental vehicles and vehicles that are sold to vehicle operators that have financed the purchase of the vehicle. The vehicle tracking device allows a vehicle to be located on demand and, in many instances, can disable the vehicle. The installer typically sells vehicles and often installs the tracking device, for example, to lower the risk of the loan given to the vehicle operator. The installer's primary concern is the sale of a vehicle and, therefore, installer's often have little regard for their inventory of vehicle tracking devices. It has thus been a concern that tracking devices will not be on hand for specific required conditions. Also, due to an expedited or limited time frame, not having tracking device in inventory or the inability of a supplier to provide requested tracking devices to an installer in a timely manner can result in the loss of a sale of a tracking device or a vehicle due to a vehicle operator being unwilling to wait until a tracking device is available for installation to take possession of the vehicle.